ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

The commercial property sector has experienced a strong July. Developers have flagged up a sharp rise in work on private sector projects last month in a new survey from property agent Savills.

The firm’s Total commercial activity index read 59.6 for July. Although this was down slightly from June’s reading of 60.0, it still highlighted a sharp expansion in commercial development.

Savills said that higher levels of activity had now been recorded for seven months running.

Commercial construction firms saw growth in both private and public sector activity in July. The firms reported growth in seven of the nine areas monitored in the survey (see table). The survey found that July’s growth was the sharpest increase for three months.

All geographical regions reported growth in commercial property activity for the month.

The strongest growth was in London and the Southeast. However, development growth here was slacker than in any other month of 2006.